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Review by Malvin

McAfee Total Protection with Site Advisor Plus provides a lot of value to home PC users. At an affordable cost, you can protect and manage up to 3 PCs with an impressive array of preventative maintenance and network administration tools. Importantly, you gain the peace of mind knowing that the software you are using is from McAfee, who for years has been recognized as a leader in security software solutions for business.

There are 12 main components to the product. These include software to help stop viruses, hackers, spyware and junk email. System administration tools include maintenance, file backup and restoration as well as tools for network configuration, file sharing and printing. Using an Internet connection, the software is continuously refreshed with updates so that you are protected from the latest threats.

I especially like the Site Advisor Plus feature which allows you to add a button to your browser’s toolbar. When visiting a website, you can easily obtain a detailed status report of the site. The report includes an analysis of download tests for adware, spyware and other potential troublesome software; the number of emails you might expect to receive per month if you opt-in to a mail list; annoyances such as excessive use of popups; a schematic displaying the online affiliations of the site; and reviewer comments about the site. This nifty tool is immensely valuable when visiting a website for the first time and deciding how you might want to interact with the site, if at all.

The installation process was easy using a PC running MS Vista. I have since used McAfee to automate the process of backing up files to an external drive; the security updates are downloading automatically; and I frequently tuen to the Site Advisor tool for insight. In my opinion, the availability of these essential services in an easy-to-use package can save any home computer user the time and hassle of system maintenance, and consequently improve the home PC ownership experience.

I highly recommend this essential product to everyone.